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 Quite often when watching a sporting game of some sort, with real high quality, some insufferably smug git (often me TBH) will say something along the lines of “Football/Cricket/Kabaddi was the real winner”. I think it is fair to say that no one will be saying that about boxing after the events leading up to, and after the fight in Munich last night.
Del Boy Chisora
It would be probably dishonest to pretend that “shenanigens” and the sense of danger wasn’t a part of the appeal of the sport of boxing,
Continue reading Vitali, Chisora and Haye
Anyone who follows me on Twitter, or is a friend on Facebook will know I am a big fan of Mario Balotelli. The man is box office and as a top flight neutral I can’t help loving everything about the circus that goes with Mario Balotelli.
Yesterday, in a cracking game at the Etihad, Balotelli was once again at the centre of attention, plus ça change. He has be embroiled in a stamping controversy and I thought I would have my 2 cents. Now before I start I want to make
Continue reading Super Mario?
 Well for a variety of reasons Lunchtime Legend has been gathering dust for the last few weeks so I thought it was about time I posted something here!
Plymouth Argyle
And the topic is going to be one of my familiar tropes, football democracy. On Saturday I received my membership card for the Argyle Fans Trust. Around the same time as the news was breaking that the players and staff had once again not been paid by the club.
Whilst it had started to look like the club was moving in the
Continue reading Argyle Fans Trust.
Supporting a lower league side means that as a top flight neutral you can engage without fear of reprisals mercilessly joshing your compadre’s who have “second teams” (often first teams TBH) in the top flight. I have an unusually large number of Liverpool supporting pals, which is a little odd given the geographical distance between Plymouth and Liverpool. However I am sure they all have bona fida reasons for supporting Liverpool, their milkmans sisters cat once went to Merseyside or something and it has nothing to do with Liverpool being the dominant force when we were growing
Continue reading Liverpool, Spurs and the Europa League.
 It is easy when you spend a lot of watching football to become pretty cynical about it. The politics, the shady business, the cheating, the diving, the shameless exploitation of fans. A game in which Sepp Blatter is the most important single individual… I often wonder why I spend so much time watching football, reading about football, talking about football. I certainly come to question why it is referred to as “The Beautiful Game”.
The great thing about football, the reason why it is a global game, why sport the world
Continue reading Super Seymour Arms: Cup finalists!
So do Football and business mix? Clearly the quick answer is yes, almost all of our clubs are now run principally or exclusively as a business. Our top clubs talk in terms of “brands”, of revenue and no doubt think of us not as fans, but as paying customers. Many clubs are now floated as PLCs.
The tussle between business of football and the fans!
And when the business side of things goes wrong, as it has recently for my club Plymouth Argyle then it can be heartbreaking for fans. I’m sure we
Continue reading Football + Business = Oil + Water?
I must say I was shocked when I saw the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or this year. Not because the three players on the shortlist (Xavi, Iniesta, Messi) were not excellent players who had achieved a great deal in the last year. But because there was a glaring, glaring omission form the list.
For me the player of the year.
That omission being Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan and Holland. The player who I felt should not only be nominated but also should have won the award. Inter Milan were *the*
Continue reading Sneijder, Barcelona and the Ballon d’Or
I find it really strange when thinking about Audley Harrison, he really is a man of contradictions. For all that he is seen by many as a clownish figure of derision he captures the imagination and attention of the British Public for boxing in a way very few can.
And when I do think about him I am in future going to try and think about him in much the same was as I do about the Star Wars prequels and the Matrix sequels. Namely I shall pretend his career as
Continue reading Audley Harrison and Manny Pacquiao: Total Opposites.
Like most England fans I was apoplectic on Friday evening at the standard of the performance it simply wasn’t good enough. Abject, turgid, disastrous, ponderous were just some of the words that sprung to mind to describe the performance. On the other hand I certainly wasn’t surprised at this. I knew England were not the side others seem to think it is, all the same the degree to which we played badly was shocking.
I spent a lot of time on the blower to various pals of mine that evening talking
Continue reading Why an embarrassing exit might be good for England.
Whilst this season has seen some fantastically unpredictable football, that has surely thrilled most fans, and certainly the neutral, for me the most striking thing that has been happening this season in terms of football has been the growing financial crisis.
Whilst this has been simmering under the surface for years it really seems to be coming to the fore, firstly with Conference side Chester City being wound up and expelled from the Conference to the soap opera that has been Portsmouth FC in the Premier League.
That well known clubs may
Continue reading Football needs “socio” fan ownership.
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